Observations on the properties of the air-pump vapour-bath, in the cure of gout, rheumatism, palsy, etc. With occasional remarks on the efficacy of galvanism, in disorders of the stomach, liver, and bowels, with some new and remarkable cases / by M. La Beaume.

Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the properties of the air-pump vapour-bath, in the cure of gout, rheumatism, palsy, etc. With occasional remarks on the efficacy of galvanism, in disorders of the stomach, liver, and bowels, with some new and remarkable cases / by M. La Beaume. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    within ; or to give a still more apposite instance, as the pressure on the surface of a shrivelled ap- ple is accurately counterpoised by the elasticity of the air contained in its pores. But now, if this full blown bladder and shrivelled apple be placed under the receiver of an Air-pump, we shall find that as the air is exhausted, the bladder will be more and more expanded, till it burst, and that the wrinkles on the apple will gradually disappear, and its surface become plump and turgid. As an instance perhaps still more in point, we mention a common experiment. If an egg punctured in the small end be placed in a wine-glass with the pin-hole downwards, and subjected to the action of an Air-pump, the elas- ticity of the air naturally enclosed in the egg, w ill force its contents through the perforation; but on re-admitting the air into the receiver, its pressure will drive the contents back again into the shell. Thus also it is with a small part of the human body subjected to the operation of the syringe- cupping-glass, which will illustrate our meaning better than the ordinary one. In proportion as the air is exhausted by the syringe, the fluids rush towardsthe small portion of surface, from whence the atmospheric pressure is removed, with such force as to occasion a tumor, and thus the blood flows through the wounds previously made by the scarificator. From these facts, and the reasons assigned for them, the transition to the Air-pump Vapour-bath, is natural and easy, l or, except